Monday, July 23, 2012

Peter S. Cooke for Governor: Bringing Pioneer Values Alive Today

One hundred and sixty five years
ago tomorrow, Brigham Young sat up in his wagon at this very spot and declared
his famous words – “This is the Place.”

This place looks a lot of different
today than it did to Brigham Young. Thanks
to our pioneer mothers and fathers the desert has blossomed as a rose.

As these pioneers entered the Salt
Lake valley, and settled this whole state, they set to work.

They tilled the soil, planted grain
and harvested the crops. They built
houses and churches and social halls.
They started what each generation is now tasked to finish – the
transformation of this state into the best place to live.

Not only did those pioneers leave
us this great land we now live in, they also gave us something even more
important. They left us their values. What are those pioneer values they wanted us
to have?

One is hard work. It took hard work to pull a handcart across a
thousand miles of plains and desert and mountains. It took hard work to break the ground, plant
the crops, milk the cows, mend the fences, and so on.

Another value was personal
responsibility. They didn’t wait for
someone else to plow those fields, dig those irrigation ditches, or harvest
those crops. They did it. They took responsibility for doing it. They knew that building this great state was
their responsibility, nobody else’s.

Another value was family. Sometimes we forget that pioneers usually
came here as families – husbands, wives, children. Many of
them didn’t make it. They grieved over
those losses as they buried their dead, wiped away their tears, and moved
on. They never forgot those spouses or
children they left on the plains. They
worked together as families to settle this land. Women, men, children. They all had their chores to build the family
business or run the family farm.

Still another value was the
importance of the community. The
pioneers came together across the plains. These weren’t individual mountain men or
prospectors out on their own. They came
together because they planned to work together in this promised land to make a
better tomorrow for themselves and their children. Community – they understood what that meant.

And, finally, service. They
served each other by helping each other survive in a new land. They helped build each other’s houses,
planted each other’s crops, harvested together, and worked together to build
communities for all. They knew what they
were doing. They knew they were building
communities not just for themselves or their families, but for generations in
the future.

I mention these pioneer values
because at this time of the year, particularly, we need to remember what the
pioneers have given us. And we should
take a moment to examine ourselves to see whether we are maintaining the values
they gave us and whether we are passing them on to our children.

I want to focus specifically on the
value of service. Are we doing enough
to foster service in our communities?
Are we doing the job we should to teach our children the importance of
service?

Some recent trends make me wonder.

One basic service we all can give
to the community is to vote. Yet, Utah’s
voter participation has dropped to disturbing lows. In 1968, Utah had the highest voter turnout
in the nation. Today, we are near the
bottom.

Also we’re not volunteering as much
as we used to. Volunteerism is dropping
nationally, but also in Utah. The
percentage of Utah residents who volunteer has dropped from 50 percent in 2003
to 43 percent in 2010. That is a faster
rate of decline than exists nationally – 29 percent to 26 percent – over the
same time period.

These are worrisome
statistics. That’s why I’ve come here to
introduce new policy initiatives to turn this around.

Recognition of Exemplary Service

One is the importance of
recognizing those who serve.

I want to recognize individuals and
businesses who promote community service.
I will do that through two awards.

One will be the Governor’s Innovative
Community Service Award. It will go to
Utah businesses who innovate in community service projects within the state. By recognizing these businesses, I will be
encouraging Utah businesses to find new and creative ways to use their
resources to serve their local communities.

I also will
create a Governor’s Exemplary Community Service Award for individuals. This will not be a Lt. Governor’s award like
the current administration does. It will
be a Governor’s award.

This award will
recognize at least one individual in each county of the state who has been
nominated by their fellow citizens as an exemplary citizen performing community
service.

It’s time we do that as well.

Instilling the Values of Service

Another goal of
mine as governor will be to emphasize instilling values of service into our
young people. Our high school students
need to understand why involvement in the community and service to others is so
important. They also need to be taught
how to make a difference in their communities so they feel confident in
becoming involved.

To accomplish
this objective, I will propose the Office of Education add a civics course
requirement to the state high school curriculum. This course will help high school students understand
the importance of involvement and service, as well as be taught how to become
involved in their communities to make a difference. Right now this material is a small part of a
U.S. government course. It should receive
much more emphasis.

Providing Opportunities for Service

I will make
another recommendation for our high school curriculum. I will urge all school districts across the
state to create service learning programs and give graduation credit for
participation in these programs.

Along those lines,
I want to help college students gain real experience in community service. That’s why I will initiate a Utah Service
Corps. This corps would be open to any
Utah resident who is a college graduate.
After graduation from college,
students would be placed as volunteers in schools, hospitals or clinics,
non-profit organizations, or local government agencies for up to two years. Whether they are accountants, engineers, or
journalists, they would gain experience in working in behalf of the
community. This initial experience
should put help them appreciate the value of community involvement and place
them on a path of community involvement they will continue on throughout their
lives.

In return for
their service, they would earn credits towards payments on their student loans
by a Utah Service Corps fund.

Where would this
fund come from? Not the taxpayers.
Businesses and individuals would be recruited to be pioneers in helping
promote volunteerism by donating to this fund.

These are initiatives I will
undertake as governor to instill the pioneer value of service into 21st
century Utah.It’s time to exhibit the
pioneer spirit of service today.It’s
time to put our shoulders to the wheel.